Walker Hayes is holding down the top two spots on Billboard‘s year-end Country Digital Songs chart. His working-class anthem-turned-unstoppable-juggernaut, “Fancy Like,” is the top-selling song of 2022. Following close behind is “AA,” its equally hooky follow-up single, whose No. 2 spot on the chart proves once and for all that “Fancy Like” was no fluke.
Hayes was undeniably among the biggest breakouts from the country format this year, but he’s not the only newer artist to claim a top spot on the 2022 year-end charts. Cody Johnson comes in at No. 3 with “‘Til You Can’t,” a song that achieved both commercial success and critical acclaim, even bringing him a 2023 Grammy Best Country Song nomination to close out the year.
More of 2022’s biggest hits claim the bulk of the rest of the Top 10, though there is one older song on the list. That’s Chris Stapleton’s “Tennessee Whiskey,” which comes in at No. 8. The song launched Stapleton to superstardom in 2015 and has demonstrated astonishing staying power, holding a place on a year-end chart a full seven years after its initial release.
Billboard‘s list of Top 10 Country Airplay hits from 2022 includes very few female artists, and the year-end Digital Songs chart is even bleaker: No women hold a space in the Top 10, not even as a guest performer on a song. The only female-fronted songs to make it into the Top 25 are Taylor Swift’s Taylor’s Version of “All Too Well” and Miranda Lambert and Elle King’s “Drunk (And I Don’t Wanna Go Home),” coming in at No. 13 and No. 16, respectively.
Additionally, Carrie Underwood gets a mention as the featured artist on the Jason Aldean-led “If I Didn’t Love You” (No. 19), and Lainey Wilson shows up twice: Once for “Wait in the Truck,” her duet with Hardy (No. 24) and “Never Say Never,” her duet with Cole Swindell (No. 25).
On this year-end chart, Swindell fares better alone: His “She Had Me at Heads Carolina,” his reinterpretation of Jo Dee Messina’s ’90s classic, “Heads Carolina, Tails California,” comes in at No. 6. Jordan Davis claims the No. 5 spot with “Buy Dirt,” his Luke Bryan duet, and Luke Combs slides into the ninth place with “The Kind of Love We Make.”
Meanwhile, Morgan Wallen makes up for a comparatively modest showing on the year-end chart for radio airplay, occupying more spots in the Top 10 of the year-end Digital Songs chart than any other artist. “You Proof” earns the No. 4 spot, with “Wasted on You” following at No. 5; “Sand in My Boots” marks his third entry inside the year-end Top 10, coming in tenth place.
Scroll down to see the Top 10 songs on the 2022 year-end list for the Billboard Country Digital Songs chart.
Top 10 Highest-Selling Country Digital Songs Chart, per Billboard:
10. “Sand in My Boots,” Morgan Wallen
9. “The Kind of Love We Make,” Luke Combs
8. “Tennessee Whiskey,” Chris Stapleton
7. “Buy Dirt,” Jordan Davis feat. Luke Bryan
6. “She Had Me at Heads Carolina,” Cole Swindell
5. “Wasted on You,” Morgan Wallen
4. “You Proof,” Morgan Wallen
3. “‘Til You Can’t,” Cody Johnson
2. “AA,” Walker Hayes
1. “Fancy Like,” Walker Hayes
Top 22 Country Songs of 2022, Ranked